In 2008, Gurban Gurbanov –
Azerbaijan’s all-time record goalscorer- was appointed head coach after the
unexpected departure of Rasim Kara
to Khazar Lankaran a week before
the season started.
Under Gurbanov, Qarabag
implemented atiki-takastyle of
play, characterised by short passes,
long periods of build-up and players
interchanging their positions. He has
stayed in charge ever since, helping the
club achieve historic results in Europe
and winning seven Azerbaijani Premier
Leagues in a row starting in 2013-14.
Their winning streak was interrupted
in 2020-21, when Neftci Baku pipped
Qarabag to the title by two points.
The victory re-established them as
Azerbaijan’s most successful club with
nine titles, one ahead of the Horsemen.
In September 2020, the ceasefire
was violated for the umpteenth time,
in the latest escalation of the conflict.
After six weeks of fighting Armenian
forces, Azerbaijani took back control
of the Agdam District.
Qarabag players, staff and
management were finally able to visit
their hometown after such a long
absence, ending fears that they
would never see it again.In the current season, driven by
the thrill of going home, Qarabag are
dominating the league. For now they’re
still playing in Baku, with no stadium inAZERBAIJANAgdam. But there are projects to
develop new infrastructures in the
region and maybe they’ll be able to
play there again. “I visited Agdam in
May, the ghost town, in a territory that
was heavily mined during the conflict
against Armenia,” Gianni De Biasi, the
Italian head coach of the Azerbaijan
national team, tellsWorld Soccer.
“Thanks to a protected corridor, I was
able to juggle with the ball among the
ruins of what
was the Imarat
Stadium, together
withmystaff,
Keisuke Honda
[formerJapan and
Milan midfielder]
and Elkhan
Mammadov
[vice president and general secretary
of the Azerbaijani football federation].
“Qarabag are confirmation that in
football, when there are ideas and a
serious plan without impatience, at
the end, the results arrive,” continuesDe Biasi. “They have an important
patrimony to support, with economic
resources that give them the
opportunity to take the best
foreign players of the league.
“The fact that there’s a coach like
Gurbanov who’s been in charge for such
a long time means that there’s big trust:
and even if it happens that Qarabag
lose the league on the last day, like last
season, it doesn’t matter because there’s
trust in the manager and in the players.
“For me as a national team coach,
Qarabag is a strong point of reference,
with about ten of their players regularly
called up in my squad,” adds the former
Torino boss. “My captain and his deputy
come from that club and they are really
two important players for Azerbaijan.”
The last words of the head coach
are about the future: “For next season,
Qarabag’s goal will be to do even better
than what they did this year in the Europa
Conference League”. They will also be
dreaming of playing again in Agdam; a
dream that has never been so concrete.“I remember the moment I got the ball and
passed it to my brother who scored...No one
could have imagined that would be the last
game we would play in our town”
Former Qarabag striker Mushfiq HuseynovPitch invader...Arsenal’s Europa League clash with Qarabag in 2018 is interrupted Azerbaijan boss...Gianni De BiasiLong serving...
Qarabag manager
Gurban Gurbanov